The prior art reveals landing systems and the like comprised of a plurality of lights which flash in preprogrammed sequence to improve visibility and provide direction. One drawback of such prior art systems is that they are fixed, typically interconnected by wires and require significant sources of power in order to operate. In many cases, however, such systems could be advantageously used in places which are difficult to access and without any easy access to power.
Also, in chaotic, fast moving, close tactical operations commanders, operators and team members ideally need to know where the location of other team members. Indeed, during such operations team members typically scatter in order to seek cover and avoid enemy fire. Additionally, the current status of team members and their immediate environment would also need to be known. For example, before starting CASEVAC under fire, company medics ideally need to know the location of friendly casualties.
Prior art methods of indicating status and location typically comprise the use of hand signals, visual location and the use of a voice communications over radios and the like, often combined with the use of GPS location devices. One drawback of such methods is that in many cases they require line of sight which in tactical situations is often not possible, due to dead ground or poor visibility conditions, such as rain, snow or smoke. Another drawback is that such methods might result in a team member inadvertently revealing his position, for example through speaking over a radio or coming out from cover. Still another drawback of such methods is that they require active feedback from the team members, which in the case of an severely injured/unconscious team member is typically not possible.
Another drawback of the prior art devices is that GPS devices often lose tracking signals when used indoors, reducing their effectiveness in tactical operations carried within buildings or the like.
The prior art also reveals light emitting beacons for attaching to people and objects for purposes of identification, avoidance and rescue. These beacons emit light according to predefined signatures, for example according to the ubiquitous SOS signal of three short, three long, three short.
One drawback of such prior art devices, and in particular in cases when a number of individuals are using such devices in proximity to one another, for example in the case of a catastrophe at sea of the like where a plurality of individual life jackets or life rafts are equipped with such light emitting beacons, is that the beacons emit light in an unsynchronized manner. This leads to overall poor visibility which would be greatly increased by synchronizing the light emitting beacons of one individual or boat with that of another such that they emit light simultaneously and according to the same signature.